There have been a number of deaths in the extreme sport of kite surfing. The primary cause of these deaths is due to the fact that the participants, who were connected to very powerful kites, were dragged or lofted into hard objects and killed. This unfortunate occurrence may happen to experienced and expert kiters as well as neophytes. An example of this danger is when a user is still attached to the kite and a gust of wind lofts the kite, and user, 20-30 feet in the air. This can move the user as much as 300 feet horizontally in a very quick time.
A typical 4-line kite has a control bar that has control lines extending to the like canopy. Sidelines attached to respective bars go to the side trailing tips of the kite and a centerline that is not attached to the respective bars, but to the rider's hook and both forward lines that go to side leading edge tips of the kite. If the control bar is lowered or raised by the rider so that the sidelines on the bar are pulled down or released relative to the centerline, the angle at which the canopy passes through the air is reduced or increased (referred to as “angle of attack” in aviation terms) which reduces or increases the lifting force. This in turn increases or decreases the effective power generated by the kites. It is known that the control bar may be attached via this center line “trim” loop located through a hole in the control bar to a hook attached to the rider's harness.
The rider holds the control bar in his hands. If unintentionally launched unhooked the rider merely releases the bar, flattening out the angle of attack of the kite, and thereby reducing lift power. For safety and control reasons, once aloft and in control of the kite, and away with adequate distance from hard objects, the rider should hook himself to the kite.
Another commonly used connection to the kite is called a shackle. These are produced for the sailboat industry and are currently being used by kiters to shackle themselves to the kite prior to launching it. The problem here develops when the kiter is lofted on launching and has to grope for his “release” and can't just let go of the bar to detach himself from the powered up kite.
As mentioned briefly above, most of the hooks attached to the harness or spreader bar have no release mechanism, which tempts fate in that there is no way to extract oneself if accidentally launched by a gust of wind. This problem is further exasperated by the fact that the movement required to unhook the rider is to pull the control bar toward the rider, the same movement that increases the angle of attack of the kite thereby increasing power. Currently any other hooks that release are unreliable, do not release 100% of the time, or bind the loop they are releasing, or do not release under significant load and are not resetable without the use of both hands.
Thus, there is clearly a need for a releasable hook for kites and other like sports equipment that provides for easy and safe emergency release and reset of a hook from a kite or other like sports equipment.
Once released the hook must be easily resetable by the kiter. The hook is the only way the kiter can control the power of the kite to ride, and therefore his only means of returning safely to the beach. When the kite is either flying or down on the water it is pulling on the rider. It is difficult to do anything with more than one hand while the other hand is controlling the kite. A released hook must be readily reset to make it a functioning asset to the rider.